Touch My Wife and You Have A Problem: The Concept of Rest in Hebrews

Just some summary thoughts/notes from my study of Hebrews 4:1-11... The writer seems to be reminding his readers that the people did not enter into any sort of permanent rest in the days of Joshua. If they had, there would have been no reason to bring up the concept of entering rest after the fact except to bring up God’s goodness in providing rest. So the concept of “rest” seems to be a little vague here, but I’ll just tell you what I think is meant by the term “rest”. The term seems, to me, to indicate a faith journey. It’s a little like the concept of salvation. I am, as I am sitting here writing these words, saved by my faith. This means that I have come to a head and heart knowledge of who Jesus is. I have accepted that He is God, and that He died on a cross for my sins, that He was resurrected, and that He will come again. This isn’t the end of my journey, though. The day I came to this recognition of my need for a Savior and committed myself to it was only the beginning of salvation. When I die and cross the proverbial finish line of life, I will have completed my journey and will be saved in the sense of having finished the journey. Salvation is a work that Jesus does in my life that can only be consummated with my entry into heaven. Entering into rest isn’t just a “now” thing. It isn’t just that we are supposed to rest as believers because God rested on the seventh day. That’s just part of it. The rest that we receive now is the rest from seeking out the Lord and seeking out our purpose. If my wife goes missing, I am obviously going to go look for her. If I find her in her car broken down on the side of the road, I can rest from my distress in knowing she was lost, but she isn’t completely safe until I get her off of the side of the road and home. She can rest from her distress at having been sitting on the side of the road in a broken down vehicle. Will anything or anyone hurt her before I get her home? Not likely with a 6’4” prior service Marine who is most likely armed with a 9mm pistol and quite willing to do violence on her behalf if necessary (Sorry. Not very “pastorly”, but just being honest here…touch my wife and you have a problem…) escorting her home! She can rest from being exposed to whomever would hurt her or take advantage of her as she is now under protection that she trusts. CAN something happen to her? Well, theoretically, yes. She could walk away from my protection and be harmed, but if she’s smart, she will stay close and let me protect her. So she can rest in having been found, but she will experience the permanent rest when she is safely delivered home and is totally out of harm’s way. We experience rest from our wandering when we place faith in Christ. We can know that no matter what comes, we can be kept from harm as long as we stay close to Him. We know that our salvation will be completed, much as a journey home is completed, at the end of our lives. It is in that knowledge of future and permanent rest that we can experience the rest that confidence in Christ brings. So until our journey is finished, we would be well-advised to stay close to the one who can protect us and keep us until we are finally home.